YA books

Review: Very Dangerous Things by Lauren Muñoz

~ megs14malloy ~ Leave a comment

Very Dangerous ThingsVery Dangerous Things by Lauren Muñoz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very Dangerous Things is set at J. Everett High, a private school that annually stages a murder mystery game for their Criminology students.

Basically, a fake murder occurs, the students form teams, and follow clues to try to solve the murder. When Xavier Torres is found dead in the greenhouse, the students initially believe that the game has begun. Sadly though, Xavier’s death has not been staged.

He’s actually been murdered.

We follow Dulcie Castillo, a crime junkie and Criminology student, who was determined to win this year’s game. Xavier’s sudden death has certainly shocked the student body, but Dulcie remains determined to solve the crime.

Xavier’s ex-girlfriend, and Dulcie’s ex-best friend, Sierra Fox, seems to be everyone’s main suspect, including the police, but Sierra swears she is innocent.

Sierra reaches out to Dulcie for help. She figures if anyone can prove her innocence it would be Dulcie, and though Dulcie has some hurt feelings regarding their relationship, she doesn’t really believe Sierra is capable of murder.

The thing is, the school is an isolated place. No one else has been arrested, or even suspected. If Sierra didn’t do it, that leaves a killer among them. Can Dulcie get to the bottom of it, before anyone else loses their lives?

Very Dangerous Things is a super delightful YA Mystery. I loved the private school setting, and the cast of characters, in addition to the mystery elements, were super-compelling. Lauren Muñoz is underrated, IMO.

This kicks off so quickly. We get to the heart of what we’re going to be investigating within the first 10% of the book, and I really appreciate that. Muñoz didn’t waste time introducing every person and having a big run-up to the murder. It’s just like, here we are, let’s get cracking.

I also loved how in the dark I was for the longest time. I had zero suspects in mind. We were getting so much information on various characters, but they all seemed so believable and earnest. I couldn’t imagine who out of this cast could have possibly wanted to kill poor Xavier.

It was fun the way Muñoz set-up the way Dulcie went about solving the crime as well. The various techniques and her thought process as she was assessing various clues. I felt that aspect was so well done, and in a way sort of paid homage to some of the great classic fictional detectives.

I would recommend this to anyone who loves a good YA Mystery, particularly if you enjoy a private school setting.

Thank you to the publisher, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I cannot wait for whatever Muñoz writes next!

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Review: Rolls and Rivalry (Gaming and Romance #3) by Kristy Boyce

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Rolls and RivalryRolls and Rivalry by Kristy Boyce
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rolls and Rivalry is the 3rd-book in Kristy Boyce’s YA-Romance series now called Gaming and Romance. I could be mistaken, but I believe this series used to be known as the Dungeons and Drama series.

Regardless of the series title, these are a set of companion novels that all involve RPG-Gaming, in particular, as you might have assumed, Dungeons & Dragons.

These novels are companions really in theme-only, meaning there’s not a lot of character crossover. Therefore, you are free to read them in any order.

There are very small cameos of past characters, but I don’t feel like if you miss the reference it will cause you to enjoy the book any less. The cameos are more like Easter Egg bonuses for loyal Readers.

In this installment, we follow Hazel, who is getting ready to enter her Senior year in high school. Hazel has been an active participant in her high school Color Guard since she was a Freshman, and we start the novel with Band Camp.

Hazel is now Color Guard Captain and feels a lot of pressure in that role. She’s striving to gain respect for herself and her fellow Guard members with the rest of the marching band, who seem to look down on them.

In the midst of all of this pressure, Hazel’s best friend from childhood, Max, returns to their school after having moved away following his parent’s divorce.

Hazel is initially excited to have him back, to have a chance to rekindle their friendship. Admittedly, Hazel had a bit of a crush on him when they were younger, and upon seeing him again, she can tell that hasn’t changed.

But Max is a member of percussion, and those two groups, percussion and the Guard, do not get along. In fact, Max seems to be falling into the jerk percussion role well. He gives her the cold shoulder in front of everyone.

Unfortunately, Max is showing up at her house every Sunday, just like the old days, because his Mom has rejoined Hazel’s parent’s D&D group.

Hazel is finally at a point where she is ready to run her own D&D group, and since people aren’t exactly lining up at her door to join, she offers to have Max join. He’s super into D&D, and he’s at her house on the weekends anyway. He’s also easy on the eyes; it just makes sense.

Also joining them are Hazel’s best friend, and two younger members of the band, one Guard member, and one percussion member. Look at Hazel, building bridges.

D&D is a fairly intimate game. You really come to mesh with the people you’re playing with. You bond over the campaign as you batter around ideas and create whole new worlds with your joint creativity and imagination.

As you can imagine, with their preexisting relationship, Hazel and Max start to see each other again with fresh eyes. Maybe their constant bickering is masking other feelings they’re too afraid to express…

This was so, so good. Kristy Boyce writes such fun and realistic characters. The relationships are also always so endearing and compelling.

I love how the D&D group was incorporated into this. There was just enough details of game nights and the campaign for my liking. It never overshadowed the rest of the story, which I appreciated.

I had moments where the marching band element seemed a bit too much for me. It’s not something I could relate too as it wasn’t part of my experience, but it was a huge part of Hazel’s experience, and because I came to care about her so much, I came to care about the band’s success.

I think around the 40%-point, that’s when I was truly pulled in. I was waffling initially, but the cuteness soon started to come out and I was hooked.

I feel like Hazel showed a lot of positive growth over the course of the story. She started to stand up for herself more, including with her Mom, who was a bit overbearing. I also loved seeing Hazel and Max get their friendship back. Romance aside, being friends first is so important to me, and I love how Boyce developed it here.

I would highly recommend this to YA Romance Readers, or anyone who is looking for true to life representation of RPG in their stories. All of the books are super cute. Read one, read them all. I’m very happy that I have.

Thank you to the publisher, Delacorte Romance, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I look forward to whatever Kristy Boyce releases next!

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Review: The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer

~ megs14malloy

The House SaphirThe House Saphir by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars**

The House Saphir follows Mallory Fontaine and is set in historical, and also a wee bit magical, France. The atmosphere is steeped in occult elements and we love to see that. Mallory comes from a long-line of witches, but her one actual power is being able to see ghosts.

Mallory makes her living giving tours of an infamous mansion where the first of the Saphir murders took place. She’s considered a bit of an expert on the murderer, Count Bastien Saphir, aka. Monsieur Le Bleu, who murdered three of his wives over a century ago.

Mallory is shocked when she ends up meeting Bastien’s great-great grandson, Armand, on one of her tours. The heir to the Saphir estate, Armand offers Mallory and her sister a large sum of money to rid his estate of Le Bleu’s ghost.

He believes the sisters are as talented as their reputations purport them to be when it comes to dealing with spirits. To him, they’re the perfect solution. To them, he’s the perfect mark. A deal is made.

The two women travel to the palatial country manor expecting their same ole’ smoke and mirrors routine. However, when murder once again comes to the House Saphir, their ghost investigation turns into a real-life murder investigation. Will they be able to solve the crime and banish the ghost before more lives are lost?

I knew nothing about The House Saphir prior to picking it up except for the fact that it was written by Marissa Meyer. I’ve had nothing but great success with Meyer’s works in the past and I love picking up her latest releases.

I had the pleasure of Buddy Reading this one with a friend and we both had so much fun with it. I actually read it in a day, which surprised me because it’s over 400-pages. I was completed invested the entire way through though. I couldn’t put it down once I started.

Apparently, it’s a Bluebeard retelling, but I didn’t go into it knowing anything about that lore, so can’t attest to this novel as a retelling one way or another. I have looked up information on Bluebeard since, and it does seem like it would be a fun ride for fans of that story.

What I do know is how consumable Meyer’s writing is. I always love her quirky characters, and she brings just the right amount of humor to her stories for my tastes.

Mallory is such an incredible MC to follow, and I loved the banter between her and Armand. She’s extremely witty and fast-thinking. You can tell she’s had to take care of herself. It shows, she’s tough and willing to do whatever it takes to survive. She’s a hustler. LOL

The murder mystery was such a bonus for me. It definitely added another layer of enjoyment. In that regard, it reminded me a bit of Belladonna. I do think Readers who enjoyed that, would enjoy this as well.

I also loved how many ghosties and monsters there were. I wasn’t expecting all that. Where I could see some Readers being disappointed, is if you go in expecting Romantasy. I don’t read a ton of Romantasy, but to me the Romance is very much a secondary-plot point compared to everything else that’s happening.

If you go in expecting big romance, you make walk away feeling let down. It exists in here, but yeah, it’s certainly not the star of the show, IMO.

I think this novel will hit best with Gothic Readers, or Readers who enjoy witches, ghosts, murder and other paranormal things, but also love humor and compelling characters. The setting of this gothic manor is super well done and it’s certainly action-packed.

Finally, I would recommend the audiobook. The narration from Rebecca Soler, unsurprisingly, was perfection. She brought Mallory to life and made me love her even more!

Thank you to the publisher, Feiwel & Friends and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Marissa Meyer is just so freaking talented!

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Review: Wildcard (Warcross #2) by Marie Lu

~ megs14malloy

Wildcard (Warcross #2)Wildcard by Marie Lu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Wildcard is the concluding book in Marie Lu’s Warcross duology. For some unexplainable reason, I preordered this book for it’s 2018-release and then never read it.

Even with Warcross being my favorite YA-book of 2017, I didn’t read it’s sequel. Honestly, what’s wrong with me?

Recently, I reread Warcross in order to finally be able to finish off this duology, and of course neither book disappointed. Lu is incredibly talented at her world-building, thought-provoking concepts and engaging character work.

This was devastating though, NGL. It gets pretty heavy towards the end as the truth is revealed, but also offers up a lot of food for thought regarding terrifying future tech.

Even though it’s close to a decade old, I feel like this duology definitely holds up. I would absolutely still recommend it to anyone looking for a fast-paced and thrilling YA-SciFi story. Particularly if you love gaming elements in your stories.

As for me, I’ll certainly be picking up more from Marie Lu!

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Re-Reading Warcross by Marie Lu

~ megs14malloy

Warcross (Warcross, #1)Warcross by Marie Lu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Upon reread, Warcross doesn’t quite live up to the 5-star energy that I felt the first time around, so I’m dropping the rating down to a 4-star.

I still really enjoyed it, and I stand by my experience back in 2017, but yeah, at this point it’s lost a bit of luster for me.

It still stands out in the YA SciFi genre though and I would absolutely recommend it. I’m excited to actually continue on and finally read the sequel. I can’t believe I never got to it.

The competition elements and the intrigue of what’s going on behind-the-scenes of Warcross is what really stood out to me this time through. Overall, I’m super happy to have revisited this story!

Previously:

Yessss, Marie Lu. I absolutely loved this. In fact, Warcross was my favorite YA book of 2017 and for good reason!!!

Emika Chen is a phenomenal protagonist.

She’s smart, super strong, both physically and mentally, as well as independent AF. Everything I aspire to be.

The gaming elements and competitive feel of this book kept it rolling along nicely with plenty of action.

The final two chapters were nothing short of AMAZING!!!

I loved the low-key social commentary about our times, real life issues and philosophical ideas that could be hotly debated. I was very pleasantly surprised by this aspect.

I cannot wait for the next book to be released. I know for sure I will be preordering it!

Update 3/3/21:

While it is true that I did, in fact, preorder Wildcard, I still have not read it. I loved this first book so much and I am afraid that the second book will disappoint me.

Does anyone else do this? Just me? I am really going to try to pick it up soon. I need to complete this duology and see what happens with my girl, Emika.

I need to DO IT!!

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Review: Beth is Dead by Katie Bernet

~ megs14malloy

Beth Is DeadBeth Is Dead by Katie Bernet
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Beth Is Dead is a modern-reimagining of the beloved Coming of Age story, Little Women. Though the original novel, written by Louisa May Alcott, was loosely based on her life, including her three sisters, in this novel, the March Sisters’ Dad is the author of the tale.

His popular novel has thrust the March family into the limelight and pop culture conversation in modern-day America. The girls have had mixed reception from the public, and frankly, I found it a bit unfair of him to expose them to the world like that really without their consent.

But that’s a story for another day…

Nevertheless, Dad’s thoughtless choices aside, I thought this was a really fun and creative way to frame this story. At its heart though, this novel is more than Little Women. It’s a murder mystery. From the title, I’m sure you can tell who the poor victim is.

That’s right. Poor Beth, struck down in all her glory after a party on New Year’s Eve. Her body is discovered in the woods close to the family home the following day.

Her sisters are determined to find her killer, but suspects abound and it’s hard to tell who to trust. All of them are connected to someone who could have done it, but what if the killer lies closer to home? Like within their own house?

I found Beth is Dead to be very clever and engaging. Granted it’s been decades since I last read Little Women, so I’m sure I missed out on some of the smaller details, particularly in regards to the girls’ different personalities, but I still appreciate so much the unique style of the retelling.

I found the mystery very enjoyable and also liked that we were give a past perspective from Beth herself. I feel like that helped to really paint a picture of what the sister’s relationships and lives were as a whole prior to the murder.

I like the author’s creative spin on a modernization of these characters. Incorporating social media and the public having opinions on the girls based solely on their fictional depictions in their Dad’s book, I felt that was completely realistic. Because we all know if we read about someone online, we know them. Am I right??

The family dynamics were well done as well. I’m sure, as I mentioned, I could have found more connections to the original if I had read it more recently, but I didn’t really have time to do that prior to picking this one up.

Lastly, the ending almost got me; a tear almost fell! Bittersweet.

I would definitely recommend this to any YA Mystery/Thriller Reader, but particularly those of you who love Little Women. I think this is such a fun blend of those two things.

Thank you to the publisher, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I can’t wait to pick up more from Katie Bernet!

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Review: I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends by Kylie Lee Baker

~ megs14malloy

I'll Find You Where the Timeline EndsI’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends by Kylie Lee Baker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

In I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends, descendants of a Japanese Dragon God are gifted with the power to travel through time. Our MC, Mina, is one of these descendants.

Though just a teen, Mina has been preparing her entire life to take her place in the Descendants, a secret organization tasked with protecting the timeline from rogue travelers.

Since this ability is based on your lineage, the rest of Mina’s family has also been involved with this organization, including her sister who went missing while on a mission.

Mina is currently placed in Seoul and has been attending a local high school where she deals with regular teenage issues. It just so happens that on the side she’s trying to find out what happened to her sister and protect the world from deviations in the timeline. No biggie.

After discovering that the organization may be corrupt, and that her sister may have been purposefully erased, Mina decides to team up with a charming rogue agent, Yejun, who she’s come to know in her time in Seoul.

He has a plan to free the Descendants from their corrupt influence, and Mina is hoping through that perhaps her sister’s existence can be restored. As the two join forces, Mina finds herself falling for Yejun.

The closer she gets to him though, the closer she is to discovering the truth. Hopefully, the truth will set her free, and not destroy her very existence instead.

Well, I guess there really isn’t anything that Kylie Lee Baker can’t do. I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends is fun, unique and well-executed. It’s also like nothing I’ve ever read from her before. She has to have one of the most active imaginations on Earth and I love that for her, and us!

I’ll admit I was distracted by the NFL Draft whilst reading this, otherwise I may have enjoyed it even more. I had one eye on the screen, seeing who was going where, but nevertheless, the audiobook kept me quite engaged.

This has some super fun concepts, great action and very endearing characters. Mina is by all appearances such a normal girl, but yeah, with the power of time travel at her fingertips. How amazing would that be?

I thought the romance was beautifully done as well. The build and the development of the relationship had me on tenterhooks. Yejun was certainly a compelling love interest.

It actually surprised me the level of emotion I was feeling towards the end. KLB is first class when it comes to pulling a Reader in. Her stories are all-consuming. I am transported and this one was no exception. I’m surprised this one didn’t receive a bit more buzz upon release.

I would definitely recommend this to any Romance Reader who enjoys stories that play with time. While this is a YA novel, I would recommend it for all ages. There’s nothing ‘too YA’ about it, IMO.

Thank you to the publisher, Feiwel & Friends and Dreamscape Media, for providing me with a copy to read and review. My biggest regret with this book is that it took me so long to pick it up.

Kylie Lee Baker is one of my go-to authors. She has never done me dirty. Her wildly-imaginative stories are an absolute gift to us all. That’s no exaggeration.

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Review: The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer & Tamara Moss

~ megs14malloy

The Escape GameThe Escape Game by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Escape Game is a fun and suspenseful YA-Murder Mystery centering around an Escape Room Game Show.

A concept, I say with confidence, was executed wonderfully.

Six months ago, the 4th-Season of The Escape Game ended tragically after one of the contestants, Alicia Angelos, was found murdered on set. Suspicions immediately fell on Alicia’s sister, Sierra, also a contestant, but without any proof, Sierra was never charged.

Now Sierra is back to play again in Season Five, but it’s not just a win Sierra’s looking for, she’s also looking for justice. Sierra’s new teammates include Adi, a celebrity’s son and cryptography expert; Carter, a math wiz and social media influencer; and Beck, an aspiring Game Master.

As the teammates begin to bond, they decide to help Sierra in her quest for answers. Soon enough they start uncovering clues to the true identity of Alicia’s killer.

As the games kick off, unsettling events seem to plague the team. Is it because of Sierra and her link to last season? Will they be able to put the puzzle together before one of them becomes the killer’s next victim?

The Escape Game was such a gripping and entertaining read. I ended up quite invested in it, even after a slightly rocky start. We meet the characters and get introduced to the game very quickly, and it took me a second to get my bearings with it all. Once I did though, I was hooked.

The Escape Room element was so well done. I loved how everything was described and how we got to follow along with our main characters as they worked through the various puzzles together.

The four MCs were extremely well-developed and likable. I loved watching them get to know one another and watching their various relationships blossom. They were each distinct and their personalities played well off of one another.

I’m honestly hoping this will get adapted. It would make a great Limited Series on Netflix, especially with all the intricacies of the various Escape Rooms. I would love to see them brought to screen. If it’s anything like what I was imagining in my head, it would be amazing!

Thank you to the publisher, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, for providing me a copy to read and review. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this, and I’m so pleased with the experience I had with it.

I would love more books with these characters. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that happens, and if it does, I’ll be first in line for a copy!

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Review: Come As You Are by Dahlia Adler

~ megs14malloy

Come As You AreCome As You Are by Dahlia Adler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars**

Come As You Are is a YA Contemporary Romance from Dahlia Adler. I’ve read from Adler before, and this one has certainly bumped her up my Must-Read Authors list.

In this story, we are following Everett ‘Evie’ Riley, who has decided to transfer to a private high school after being betrayed by a trifecta of important people in her life: her boyfriend, her best friend and her sister.

Evie is desperate for a fresh start. She needs new scenery and new people. Her new start faces it’s first hurdle on move-in day though, when Evie finds herself mistakenly assigned to an all-boys dorm and wouldn’t you know it, there’s no room for her in the girls dorm.

Rumors and speculation regarding Evie’s unfortunate housing predicament quickly spread throughout the small campus. Unsure what else to do, Evie decides to lean into her enticing new reputation.

In order to do this though, good girl Evie is going to need some help, which she finds in the form of her grumpy, yet exceeding cool, dorm mate, Salem Grayson.

As it turns out, Salem needs a little help as well, repairing his relationship with his parents after he was kicked out of another school. Evie could be the perfect person to help him with that. It’s a win, win.

Sadly, even as Salem starts to turn his reputation around and succeed at absolutely everything he tries, Evie cannot seem to catch a break. As Evie comes to certain realizations about herself and her life, it turns out maybe she’s destined for a different path than she once expected.

I really loved this. I’m not sure how memorable the overall story will be for me long-term as far as the smaller details go, but there was so much I adored about it in the moment.

The characters were fabulous, both the main characters, and the side characters. Adler built this beautiful found family feeling into the story that I felt added a lot of warmth. With these kids being away from home at a boarding school, that element would make sense, and it was well done.

Additionally, the banter was fantastic and I experienced a full range of emotions over the course of the story. Dahlia Adler has quickly become a favorite for me.

Evie was such a great main character. She really was going through a lot, and I liked how she faced it all with an emotional maturity that was good to see. Having your boyfriend, sister and best friend betray you all at once, that could definitely cause one to spiral, but I liked how she took action to move forward from it versus dwelling.

Not only did she take action, she did it on her own. Her parents weren’t really aware of the full scope of what had happened, and Evie shouldered all the responsibility for forging her new path. I respected that.

Sure, a lot of the drama is still teen, but as it should be, it’s a YA book. Adler also always includes a diverse cast of characters, and I appreciated that representation, as well as some of the topics explored in regards to sexuality, relationships, etc.

Thank you to the publisher, Wednesday Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I wish I’d have read it sooner. I recommend this to any YA Contemporary Romance Reader. It’s a good one!!!

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Review: Hazelthorn by C.G. Drews

~ megs14malloy

HazelthornHazelthorn by C.G. Drews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Hazelthorn is a YA Gothic Horror story from C.G. Drews. I read from Drews for the first time last year when I read their popular novel, Don’t Let the Forest In.

I was immediately impressed by the style of their prose, the relationships developed within the story and the vivid imagery evoked. I’m happy to report, all of these top-shelf qualities are again on display within the pages of Hazelthorn.

This story follows Evander, who has lived like a ghost within the walls of Hazelthorn estate ever since he was taken in as a small child by Byron Lennox-Hall, the reclusive billionaire owner of the estate.

Evander has very specific rules that he is made to abide by, such as he can never leave the estate, he isn’t to go into the gardens, and he shouldn’t ever be left alone with Laurie, Byron’s mischievous grandson.

The last rule was actually established for good reason, when 7-years ago, Laurie tried to kill Evander, a situation which he barely survived. In spite of this though, Evander does have a bit of an unhealthy attraction to Laurie. Honestly, he’s hard to resist.

When Byron unexpectedly dies, and it’s announced the entire estate is being left to Evander, he suddenly has threats coming from all sides. As you can imagine, other family members aren’t exactly pleased with this turn of events.

Despite his sudden windfall, Evander’s not happy. He’s suspicious about the way the way Byron died. He believes he was killed, but why? And how can he prove it?

Suddenly, Laurie becomes Evander’s best ally for getting to the bottom of what really happened to Byron, and figuring out the true that lies at the heart of Hazelthorn.

This was great. It’s dark and engaging and I was intrigued by Hazelthorn and everything going on there. Actually the more I think about it, perhaps I underrated this one a bit. It’s probably closer to a full 4-star rating for me.

I just think in comparison to Don’t Let the Forest In, I didn’t find this one as easy to track, and I also didn’t feel as emotionally invested, although there was still so much to love about this story.

In some ways, this story did remind me of a few other things I’ve read before, for example, These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall. What did stand out was the level of botanical horror that Drews included. That I really, really enjoyed.

This did have some interesting twists and some dangerous family drama, which I also thought was a lot of fun. I actually wouldn’t mind reading this again someday, maybe getting a hard copy and annotating could help bring more of the nuances of the story to the forefront for me.

At the end of the day, this is another fantastic story from Drews, delivering on their signature writing style and lush, gothic atmosphere.

Thank you to the publisher, Recorded Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. C.G. Drews is such a talent, and I cannot wait to continue to follow their career. I know we’re going to have a long and beautiful friendship!

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